Maurice de Berkeley (1280-1326)
|birth_year=1280 |birth_month=4 |birth_locality=Berkeley, Gloucestershire |birth_county=Gloucestershire |birth_nation-subdiv1=England |birth_nation=United Kingdom |death_year=1326 |death_month=5 |death_day=31 |death_address=Wallingford Castle |death_locality=Wallingford, Oxfordshire |death_county=Oxfordshire |death_nation-subdiv1=England |death_nation=United Kingdom |ifmarried-g1=true |wedding1_year=1289 |wedding1_date-approx=c |ifmarried-g2=true |wedding2_year=1316 |wedding2_date-approx=c |globals= }} Lord Berkeley (2nd, after 16 August 1308) (Maurice de Berkeley ) Maurice the Magnanimous Sir Maurice de Berkeley, b. Apr 1281, d. 31 May 1326, Lord Berkeley of Berkeley Castle; m. (1) 1289, neither being over eight years of age, Eva la Zouche. Charta Sureties Note: They must have been married in early 1289, because Eva had to have been born bef. 25 Mar 1280 (nine months after her father's latest possible death date). --------------------------------------------------- Maurice de Berkeley, 1st/2nd Baron Berkeley; b. April 1271; took part in Scottish Wars 1295-1318; at Siege of Carlaverock July 1300, called to Parliament 1308 in his father's lifetime by a series of writs worded to him as "Maurice de Berkeley", which by a later interpretation would have meant that he was made Lord (Baron) Berkeley in a separate creation to that of his father, but in fact there is no record of his having taken his seat, Warden Gloucester 1312, Capt Berwick 1315, Commissioner to Scotland 1316, Chief Justiciar of South Wales 1316, Seneschal of Aquitaine 1320, joined the Earl of Lancaster's insurrection against Edward II and his favourites the Despensers 1321 but was captured and imprisoned in Wallingford Castle. Peerage --------------------------------------------------- BARONY of BERKELEY (II) MAURICE (DE BERKELEY), LORD DE BERKELEY, son and heir, who "may bee called Maurice the Magnanimous," born April 1281 (b). He distinguished himself in the Scottish wars, 1295-1318, and was at the siege of Carlaverock in July 1300. He was summoned to Parliament v.p., from 16 August 1308 to 15 May 1321 by writs directed Mauricio de Berkeleye, whereby he may be held to have become LORD BERKELEY, though there is no actual record of his having sat in Parliament. He held several important posts, v.p., being Warden Of Gloucester, 1312; Capt. of Berwick, 1315; one of the Commissioners to Scotland, 1316; Chief Justiciar of South Wales 1316, and Seneschal of Aquitaine, 1320. Shortly afterwards he joined the Earl of Lancaster in the rebellion against Edward II and the Despenser family, and within 6 months of his father's death was sent prisoner to Wallingford Castle, 20 Jan 1321/2, where he d. about a year afterwards. He m. 1stly 1289 (neither party being aged over 8), Eve, sister of William la Zouche (Lord Zouche of Haryngworth), and daughter of Eon la Zouche, by Millicent, sister and coheir of George de Cauntelo, Lord of Abergavenny, daughter of William de Cauntelo, of Calne, co. Wilts and Aston Cantlow, co. Warwick. She d. 6 Dec 1314, and was buried in Portbury Church, Somerset. He m. 2ndly, about 1316, Isabel, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, by his 1st wife Alice, daughter of Hugh XI, called le Brun, Sire de Lusignan, Count of la Marche and Angouleme (uterine brother of Henry III). He d. as aforesaid, 31 May 1326 , and was buried at Wallingford, but removed to St. Augustine's, Bristol ©. Inq.p.m. Feb 1326/7. His widow, who was b. 10 Mar 1262/3, dsp 1333. Peerage II:128-9, XIV:87 (b) This makes him a father at the age of 14, for which Smyth quotes the Biblical precedents of Solomon and Ahaz, each a father at 11 and of King Josiah at 14, and adds that his own "small reading could parallel more than a dozen other parents which have been Fathers and Mothers at 14 years". The date of birth appears to rest on his being found to be 40 years old in 1321 in two inquisitions on his father's death, "and" says Smyth "he best knew his own age that sett it down." It is however now recognised that the age of men in middle life being a matter of little practical importance, is seldom given with any degree of accuracy in the inquisitions. His birth (as the elder son of his parents) would more probably be in 1271 than in 1281, ie. after some 4, rather than some 14, years of their marriage. © From his 2nd son, Maurice, descend the Berkeleys of Stoke Gifford, co. Gloucester (Lords Botetourt), the Berkeleys of Stratton, Cornwall (Lords Berkeley of Stratton) and the Berkeleys of Pyll, of which families the last is now (1911) represented in the male line by Viscount Portman. --------------------------------------------------- Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd baron, b. 1281, d. 1326, m. Eve, dau. of Eudo le Zouch. He received summons to parliament from 1308 to 1321, during his father's lifetime. He had issue, Thomas, 3rd baron; Sir Maurice; John, constable of Bristol Castle; Eudo; Peter; Isabel. Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 44, Berkeley, Viscount Berkeley, Earl of Nottingham, and Marquess of Berkeley Sources: Title: Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999 Page: 80-5, 82-5, 88-5 Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999 Page: 254 Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999 Page: 26-30 Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: II:128-9 Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: II:128 (b) Text: probably 1271, rather than 1281 Title: Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999 Page: 80-5, 88-5 Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: II:129 Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: II:219 __SHOWFACTBOX__ Category:Barons Berkeley Category:English rebels Category:People from Berkeley, Gloucestershire Maurice Category:Seneschals of Gascony